alarms

In addition to letting loose a string of expletives, those who have lost a phone or been a victim of phone thievery have probably reacted with the following: "Nooooo! My contacts!"

Mobile innovator Tenbu Technologies has come up with Nio, a Bluetooth security tag that links to any of your belongings. If your laptop, phone, keys, or even child move out of range, an alarm sounds.

The gadget has the potential to save your items and the valuable information they carry, like contacts.

How exactly does it work? Attach Nio to your keys, laptop bag, or other belonging … Read more

Waking up to the jarring buzz that most alarm clocks are equipped with is an unpleasant experience. Citrus Alarm Clock wakes you up with songs that you choose from your computer's music library. You can set different alarms for each day of the week. The program runs unobtrusively from your computer's task tray and is easy to turn on or off.

Citrus Alarm Clock plays songs you choose from your music library as an alarm. When triggered, the song plays quietly at first, gradually increasing in volume. The design of Citrus Alarm Clock's interface is clean and … Read more

That was quick. A day after going on sale, the Chumby One cheerfully landed on my desk this morning. Curious to see what's inside? Take a look at Crave's Chumby One unboxing photo gallery.

The Chumby One (which is technically Chumby No. 2) officially made its way into the manufacturer's online storefront Wednesday, priced at a tantalizing $99.

For those who didn't catch the Chumby phenomenon the first time around, the gist of the thing is a do-it-all, hardware host for Internet widgets. You can use it to check the weather, update your Facebook status, browse your photos on Flickr, tune in to Internet radio, play games, and more. The original Chumby was a blast (I still use one at home for listening to Pandora), but it was a bit of a … Read more

If Moshi's voice-responsive alarm clock got you in the habit of talking to clocks, you can now continue the dialogue while traveling.

Moshi's Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock is a smaller, cheaper version of the earlier device. Like the Moshi IVR Clock, the new clock lets you use nine voice control commands to do things like turn the alarm on and off ("set alarm...7:30 a.m."), hit snooze, ask for the temperature, and access a help menu. As far as we can tell, the device does not respond to exhaustion-related rants.

The travel clock … Read more

Say the Time provides a simple tool for managing time and staying on task. Its signature voice alarm system was fun to use, but ultimately it's not much better than other alarm programs out there.

The program's interface was simple to understand and operate, since it broke all actions down into the easiest process and left no room for error. Things were so smooth we were able to set up reminders in a matter of seconds. The program basically functioned like many alarm systems we'd tested where we entered a date and time for an alarm via … Read more

Keeping your PC secure requires diligence, common sense, and, perhaps most importantly, software. It's not enough to install antivirus and antispyware utilities; you also need a rock-solid firewall to keep hackers at bay.

Today only (in honor of my birthday, I'm guessing), Check Point Software is offering ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall 2010 absolutely free. That's a $39.95 value, my friends.

(Actually, what you're getting is a free one-year license. If you want to keep using ZoneAlarm after that, you'll have to pony up 40 bucks. On the other hand, this is the second year running … Read more

MSD Organizer offers to help manage day-to-day lives and much more. By offering a simple overall layout and some surprising options, this proves to be more than a fancy calendar.

We found the Outlook-style layout and detailed Help file discussing its commands to be a huge benefit to the interface and were able to quickly start working. We managed a few simple menus to populate a calendar with important dates and set reminder alarms, which again felt reminiscent of the Outlook calendar system. We were pleased when our alarm sounded and popped up on command, ensuring its accuracy. MSD mimicked … Read more

Best known for its ZoneAlarm firewall, Check Point Software has announced updates for ZoneAlarm's more full-featured security suites. Available in two versions, ZoneAlarm Internet Security 2010 gives users a robust firewall, antivirus and antispyware, and parental control package for $50, while ZoneAlarm Extreme Security 2010 adds Web browsing protection, system tune-up tools, backup options, and anti-phishing technology for $70.

ZoneAlarm is claiming faster performance in its antivirus and antispyware scans because it has unified them, something that its competitors did awhile back. The company says that users should expect scans to be 80 to 90 percent faster. The Internet … Read more